Monday, October 13, 2014

Last year we began raising honey bees for the Greater Vancouver Food Bank at our community garden (Cottonwood). Before I became a beekeeper I thought like most that honey was a sweet treat that Winnie the Pooh loved, but to my amazement I discovered that honey possesses incredible health benefits that have been used since pre-Ancient Egyptian times to treat a variety of ailments.

Winnie the Pooh

However, it is only recently that the antiseptic and antibacterial properties of honey have been fully understood. Scientists have revealed that honey has powerful anti-bacterial properties that work on at least sixty species of bacteria, and unlike antibiotics, which are often useless against certain types of bacteria, honey is non-toxic. The composition of honey includes sugars such as glucose and fructose and also minerals such as niacin, riboflavin, pantothenic acid, calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium and zinc. Depending on the quality of the nectar and pollen, the vitamins contained in honey are B1, B2, C, B6, B5 and B3. Honey is used topically to treat wounds (including tumours), allergies, as an antioxidant (contains flavonoids, antioxidants which help reduce the risk of some cancers and heart disease), works to reduce ulcers and other gastrointestinal disorders and reduces cough and throat irritation. All great reasons to provide honey to the Greater Vancouver Food Bank (For the Love of Bees).

Last year we received a grant from the Vancouver Foundation to purchase the hive and bees for the Food Bank hive. We were blessed to be a recipient of a grant from the Vancouver Foundation again this year to purchase a second beehive. The Vancouver Foundation provides funding for community projects that help build a healthy, sustainable sense of community that is sometimes lacking in large urban areas.

"With over 1,600 funds and assets totaling $930 million, Vancouver Foundation is Canada’s largest community foundation. Each year, Vancouver Foundation and its donors make more than 5,300 grants, totaling approximately $50 million to registered charities across Canada. Since it was founded in 1943, Vancouver Foundation, in partnership with its donors, has distributed more than $1 billion to thousands of community projects and programs. Grant recipients range from social services to medical research groups, to organizations devoted to arts and culture, the environment, education, children and families, disability supports for employment, youth issues and animal welfare. To find out more please explore our website or connect with us on Facebook and Twitter."

We are constantly bombarded by world news, mostly negative, that neglects to remind us of all the wonderful, small community projects going on around us. Many of these projects are made possible by the Vancouver Foundation and help to make this world a little better place to live in. For us, the Strathcona Beekeepers it has helped us continue to provide free beekeeping lessons and guidance to the community; free native and honey bee demonstrations; maintain our community bee and plant resource website; share our honey extractor with over 20 community beekeepers annually purchased with funds from the Vancouver Foundation; provide a place in Strathcona (Cottonwood Garden) for community, cooperative beekeeping; increase neighbourhood pollination and food crop yield; financially support Cottonwood Community Garden through the sale of honey and provide honey to the Vancouver Food Bank.

We raised $400 selling honey for Cottonwood Garden this year

This year we were able to provide the Food Bank with over 50 kgs of honey to be distributed mostly to the downtown eastside soup kitchens. A big thanks to the Vancouver Foundation for helping us continue our work. They have helped us create a permanent, positive addition to the Strathcona community. Please consider the Vancouver Foundation among those you support with your charitable donations (Donate to the Vancouver Foundation). Every little bit helps and you may just find a honey bee or mason bee in your backyard brought to you by your own financial support to the Vancouver Foundation.

4 year old Jack giving a bee lecture at Cottonwood Community Garden Open House

For those who don't know the Food Bank or "The Greater Vancouver Food Bank Society" {GVFBS} is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing food and related assistance to those in need. The GVFBS collects and distributes food to nearly 27‚000 people weekly through 15 food depots and over 100 community agencies located in Vancouver‚ Burnaby‚ New Westminster and the North Shore. The GVFBS does not receive any government funding and relies solely on the generosity of individuals and organizations willing to donate funds‚ food and time like us.

Our beehives have been superbly painted by amazingly, artistic community children's groups.

Last year we also started a food growing program at our community garden for the Vancouver Food Bank. Under the supervision of farmer Linda we have been able to provide a wide variety of fresh, local, organic produce to the Vancouver Food Bank. I would also like to thank all the other gardeners who have and continue to work so hard at making this a viable project and by doing so making a positive difference in our community. As someone who has worked in traditional, rural farming I have discovered that urban farming is a totally different skill. The main challenge being the optimal usage of the limited space. Farming practices like growing vine crops vertically on mesh fences and planting in July for your second late summer crop of peas. Maximum usage of limited space. The greatest example of urban farming that I know of is the "Urban Homestead" in Pasadena where they harvest 3 tons of organic food annually from their 1/10 acre garden while incorporating many back-to-basics practices, solar energy and biodiesel in order to reduce their footprint on the earth’s resources. A wonderful inspiration.

Amy from the Food Bank receiving some of our fresh, organic produce.

The bees are settling in for a long winter. We have left them lots of honey with the hope that some sunny, March day next spring they come out to enjoy the nectar from the fruit trees and to begin once again another bountiful year in the community of Strathcona (Vancouver).

Recent Posts

Cottonwood Fire

At 2 am on July 3,2017 there was a fire at Cottonwood Community Gardens and our greenhouse and the attached tool/bee shed burnt to the ground. Arson is suspected. Nothing was salvageable from the fire and apart from the building itself, the largest loss is the beekeeping supplies. These include a community honey extractor, honey bucket, filters, decappers (lent out to the public for free), protective clothing for free lessons and beekeeping tools, boxes and frames. The Strathcona Beekeepers Association and the Cottonwood Beekeeping Coop are two of the groups that use the garden. They provided free beekeeping lessons to the public and honey for the community garden and foodbank. This shed also held our pruning, irrigation and construction tools and supplies.
Cottonwood is a volunteer organization that operates on a shoestring — our funds come mainly from our yearly plot fees. We're asking for your financial support to help us to rebuild and resupply our garden and beekeeping operation. Thanks.

Vancouver Honey Bee Swarm Rescue

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An Inconvenient Truth

Musings

The Strathcona Beekeepers meet on the last Sunday of each month during the bee season. Everyone is welcome. For more information contact us at strathconabeeatgmaidotcom.

Join the Million Pollinator Garden Challenge

Ohio State University has created a free honey bee biology and beekeeping course based on Dr. Reed Johnson's for-credit OSU Beekeeping Course. The free course consists of video lectures, handouts and readings presented on iTunes which is a free download. The course is extensive and consists of 138 segments covering every aspect of bees and beekeeping. To access this course click on the image above.

Australia and Neonics

The Truth:“I can tell you with all certainty that neonicotinoids are killing and damaging thousands of beehives in Australia. But beekeepers won’t speak up because they need the relationship with the farmers.” Gibbs also remarks that while old organophosphates kill bees outright, death via neonics is very slow and more pervasive. It can take the hive down over months and it can take months to bring the bees back. “The fuckers… so much money and lobbying behind them.” Beekeepers in Australia have been able to survive, explains Gibbs, because after being exposed to neonics, they can run their hive into the forests for fresh nectar and pollen (primarily red gum and iron bark trees). Australia is a worldwide excuse for insecticide companies who are blaming Varroa mite for bee colony collapse overseas and claiming that Australian bees are healthy. Given the present situation of most beekeepers in Australia, this is not only a joke but an insult. The only winners here are the pesticide corporations, making a mockery of your present hardship.